Page 2

Morgan’s other hand pressed between his shoulder blades, pinning him down and Lex’s whole spine curled. His cheek flattened against the desk, the wood cool and smooth against his flushed skin.

He really wasn’t sure what the hell was sweat, or spit, or god knows what else.

“You’re making such a mess,” Morgan said, that damn smile coming through his tone. “My poor desk.”

I’m going to slap him.

The thought came out of nowhere—way too fucking funny—and Lex choked on something that could’ve been a laugh if it didn’t sound so damn muffled and thin.

Later. He’d smack Morgan later.

Everything else could happen later.

Morgan’s teeth found Lex’s neck—tugging, biting, sharp enough to leave a mark—and there went that thought.

Whatever it was.

Morgan’s fingers slipped out of him abruptly, the ladder of piercings taking their place. Rubbing. Slowly.

There wasn’t enough friction in the universe.

“This is the part I love most,” Morgan said softly. “You always act like you hate it. But look at you.”

Lex struggled, squirming against the desk, his cheeks flushed and breaths ragged .

“Please, Morgan, just...” He panted, his legs trembling, unable to find words. He was desperate, needy. Dick throbbing, aching to be released.

“Just what?” Morgan traced up Lex’s spine, his touch burning, leaving goosebumps over every inch of skin.

Groaning in frustration, Lex slapped his hand against something—papers, probably. Some manila envelope from who knows when.

“J-just fucking touch me already.”

He rolled back again, sliding his ass over Morgan’s slick cock. He was teetering right on the edge, the need so bad every nerve felt like it was on fire.

Morgan shifted behind him, hands sliding down to grip his hips too tight. The tip of his cock nudged against his hole, rubbing up and down. Taunting. Slow and cruel as shit.

“You always beg so pretty when you’re ruined,” he whispered. “You want me to say you’re good?”

One movement, and Morgan buried his dick in to the base.

Lex didn’t sob as much as scream. A guttural, desperate sound trapped in his throat.His vision blurred, body tightening around Morgan’s cock. Tears spilled down his cheeks, that horrible pleasure-pain almost too much.

Morgan’s hips slammed against him. Hard. Fast. Again. Again. And again. The angle made it deeper. Hitting that sweet spot.

“Then tell me how much you really wanted me to tear you apart, my sweet.”

Speaking wasn’t a thing Lex could do. Wasn’t going to happen.

No way .

One second everything burned. The next it felt so damn good his brain stopped functioning.

He couldn’t form words if he tried.

Morgan was fucking him too hard, driving in too deep. Stretching Lex open, each thrust blurring into the next.

Lex heard his own moans, choked cries that came from a place he didn’t recognize. Didn’t want to think about it right now.

Fuck.

Everything was tingling.

The piercings were just another layer of sweet agony, rubbing against his insides until he thought he might burst.

And that might was the only warning he got.

There was no second one, no familiar pull of orgasm.

It just hit .

He clenched around Morgan’s cock, dick pulsing, trapped between his shirt and the desk. His vision whited out for a second, head spinning.

Too much. Too much .

Lex expected… something.

Not laughter.

Morgan paused, face buried against the back of Lex’s neck, entire damn body shaking.

“Two minutes,” Morgan started, voice breaking into pieces when he couldn’t hold it in, “is a new record for you.”

This time, Lex slapped him.

Or, at least, he slapped Morgan’s leg.

Still.

It counted.

Morgan wasn’t laughing by the time they got to their room.

Not laughing, or chuckling—

The asshole was giggling . Like some fourth grader with a crush.

“I should aim for thirty seconds next time,” he mumbled around his fingers before bursting into laughter again.

Lex flushed. He ripped off his shirt and threw it at Morgan’s damn head.

“I’m gonna lose it one day,” he said, grabbing a t-shirt from the top of their closet. “One day. Mark my fucking words. Lose it and just—just snap .”

Morgan didn’t stop smiling. Just peeled the shirt off his face like Lex hadn’t threatened his life and grabbed the suitcase from the other closet.

“Start packing. Early flights are one of my least favorite things in existence.”

Rolling his eyes, Lex yanked the clean shirt over his head.

Honestly? This was how it should’ve been from the start.

Morgan and him.

Full stop.

Sneaking around had been fun—at first.

Like being a teenager again.

Stolen kisses behind doors. Make-out sessions in the car .

Morgan dragging him into whatever room with a lock they could find, practically begging Lex to have sex with him.

Until it… wasn’t.

Until Lex started thinking too hard.

He’d lie awake in Morgan’s old room, staring at the ceiling, picturing Kate and Morgan across the hall—

Talking in low voices. Laughing at something Lex would never hear.

Or worse.

And he couldn’t ask. Morgan didn’t give answers. Not unless he wanted to. And even then, the truth came dressed in something else. Cold, clipped sentences that always felt like they were meant to piss Lex off.

That’s when it stopped being a game.

That’s when the jealousy sank in, teeth first.

That was when he decided he wasn’t going to wait for permission anymore.

He walked right into the main bedroom one morning, looked Kate in the eye, and said, “This is my room . You can sleep somewhere else.”

She just stared, shrugged, and walked out.

That? That was the strangest fucking thing Kate had ever done.

He expected more of an argument. Yelling. Screaming.

Something.

But Morgan and Kate had always been off.

The front door downstairs shut, and it was like all the air rushed out of the room.

Lex almost watched Morgan deflate. The laughter stopped. Immediately .

Kate’s knock on the open door was too soft.

“I brought home dinner,” she said. “If you both feel like eating in the dining room with me.”

Lex’s stomach growled.

“That sounds amazing. Thanks. Did you uh, did you have fun shopping?”

“I did! I was able to spend time with Max and Miriam. Finally.”

Lex nodded like he had any clue who the hell that was. He caught her eyes skimming over Morgan’s open suitcase.

“Business trip?” she asked.

Morgan didn’t even look over. “London.”

“Please try not to do something you’ll regret while there.”

“You mean don’t act stupid?” Lex laughed. “Spicy, especially coming from you.”

The suitcase hit the bed with a muffled thud . Lex barely had time to turn his head before catching Morgan’s nose wrinkling like he’d smelled something rancid.

“That’s not what I—” she started, before Lex was talking again.

“It’s definitely what you meant, Kate—”

“Can you listen to me?” Kate’s voice spiked—sharp, shrill enough to cut off Lex mid-word.

“I’m not asking for information,” she said, quieter now, “because God knows I’m not interested, but whatever happens in London has to stay there. They don’t do long-distance.”

That sounded… really fucking loaded. Like an ominous warning from the crime docs he liked to binge. And from the way Morgan was focused on her, un blinking—

“What aren’t you telling me?” The words catapulted out of Lex’s mouth before he could stop them.

Kate shifted. Then she was doing it again—that jittery, uncomfortable thing, fingers twitching and moving like they were separate beings. The hairs on the back of Lex’s neck prickled.

Her hands clasped together, too-wide eyes bouncing from him to Morgan, then straight to the carpet.

Silence stretched. Long enough for the tension to ease into irritation.

“Spit it out, Kate,” Lex mumbled.

Finally, Kate nudged the suitcase aside and perched on the edge of the bed.

“I never…” she sighed, her shoulders falling. “I wanted to be married to my high school sweetheart with a house full of kids by now. This was the furthest thing from my imagination.”

Lex snorted. “Morgan wasn’t your high school sweetheart? Big shock . He looked like he sold drugs on the corner.”

“My family introduced us.”

Why was this so cryptic?

Instead of jumping in with a million more questions, Lex let her gather her thoughts. Judging by the way she kept opening her mouth and wetting her lips, she wanted to continue.

Maybe. Who the hell knew.

“I was the daughter they didn’t want; acting out, problems at school…

I’m sure you get the picture,” Kate said, winding a strand of hair so tightly around her finger it had turned white.

“They told me Morgan would keep me out of trouble, and I would keep an eye on him. We were a good match, on paper. At fi rst, the two of us tried to make it seem more real than it was. And then we fell into this… pattern. We know we’ll never be what the other needs, but my family sees Morgan as an investment.

This is the only way they leave me alone, too. If they think we’re together then…”

Was this a fucking confession or a TED talk?

Lex’s patience was hanging on by a thread.

Kate wasn’t answering anything . Just circling the edges, feeding him scraps.

“What kind of investment ?” he snapped.

Morgan set another pressed blazer on top of the suitcase.

“When they need a body disposed of on short notice,” he murmured, indifferent as ever. “In exchange for my help, they give me protection. The Sterlings don’t just own all of our nowhere town. They’re quite well known in the States.”

Everything clicked .

The hours Lex had spent scouring the internet last year— desperate to find one shred of information about Morgan’s victims—only to come up with nothing.

The way Morgan treated Kate like a nuisance.

The skin-crawling something is weird and I can’t put my finger on it feeling that had been plaguing him for months.

Of course Morgan had a secret deal with a family like that. It explained everything .

Kate didn’t fit the type he had in his mind, though. She was so damn quiet. Demure. Like she was watching some kingdom —

“You’re like a—a fucking mob princess,” Lex stuttered out, thoughts and words crashing together before he had a chance to separate them .

“No! I mean… it’s not like that, not exactly—”

“That’s a crass way to put it,” Morgan interrupted, “but to be blunt: yes.”

Lovely.

Another screwed-up thing to add to his ever-growing list.

God, his head was spinning.

“Are you telling me,” Lex began slowly, “that we’re stuck playing house forever? The three of us. Forever. ”

Kate shook her head. “My cousins asked where Morgan was again when we were out. What am I supposed to do? Keep telling them he’s obsessed with work?

The girls have never met him. Max keeps saying she doesn’t believe he exists!

Miriam feels bad that I’m here alone so often…

this is falling apart, piece by piece. I—I have to come clean. ”

So that’s who the hell Max and Miriam were. The elusive cousins Lex had heard about.

Slamming the suitcase shut, Morgan’s glare found Lex.

“ Pack .”

“Well, excuse me for being curious! I didn’t know any of this!” Lex grabbed his bag and flung it toward the bed. It missed, hitting the frame before sliding down the side. “Do you know how long I’ve been wondering what the hell’s going on with you two?”

“Aren’t you still talking to Wendy?”

“No. No . Do not turn this around on me, Morgan. I broke up with her months ago. We talk at work. Because we work together .”

“What matters,” Kate said, standing and smoothing her skirt, “is that I’m going to talk to my family while you’re both away. I think it’s the only option I’m left with. ”

Lex balled up whatever his hand landed on—a jacket, a top, something hanging—and tossed it near the bag without looking. He didn’t give half a shit about packing right now.

“And what are the chances that goes well? Zero?”

“They won’t be happy, but they’ll understand. Romances end all the time.” She stopped at the door and took a breath. Calm and collected again. “Don’t let dinner get cold.”

Lex didn’t watch her go, but he heard every step. A warning still hanging in the air, waiting to blow up in his face

The old, wooden steps sounded more like a gunshot than a creak.

Lex exhaled and his gaze flicked up to Morgan.

“You could’ve told me. Earlier.”

“I didn’t find it relevant. It has nothing to do with us.”

Except, it did.

It had everything to do with them.